Hank George Proposes Toilet Paper Hoarder Underwriting Screen

"Americans stockpiled more toilet paper in their household and went toilet paper shopping less frequently as compared to Europeans," the researchers wrote. "This could be attributed to the circumstance that, on average, toilet paper rolls come in bigger packages in the US (e.g., up to 36 rolls per package) than in most European countries (e.g., between 8 to 16 rolls)."

Results

The researchers found that survey participants who took the COVID-19 threat more seriously were more likely to stockpile toilet paper.

Participants who are more emotional than others were also more likely to stockpile toilet paper.

Being especially conscientious was a third factor that led to increased stockpiling.

"All these effects held across North American and European countries and were robust across different indicators of toilet paper stockpiling (i.e., shopping frequency, shopping intensity, and stocked toilet rolls)," the researchers wrote.

The researchers said they believe their results have implications for policymakers who are involved with managing the response to a pandemic, and with trying to maximize helpful preparation efforts

"While it is important to communicate the severity of a pandemic and appeal to people's compliance to necessary measures such as social distancing, communicators should be careful not to provoke panic that can eventually result in dysfunctional behavior such as stockpiling," the researchers wrote. "This is also in line with the finding that fear can potentially be useful if people 'feel capable of dealing with the threat.' If fear is driven by strong emotions, however, people may ignore factual information and engage in irrational behavior."

The Underwriter's Reaction

George did not speculate about whether increased toilet paper stockpiling could correlate with anxiety or depression, or with private knowledge about digestive tract symptoms that could be early signs of COVID-19.

George did express his personal view that "near hysterical sequestration" of toilet paper is infuriating and should be ferreted out.

Clarification: Hank George thinks the idea of a toilet paper hoarding screen is funny. He is not seriously proposing that life insurers try implementing that.

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